Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Grow Your Business Leadership with Molly Gimmel

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How to Grow Your Business Leadership with Molly Gimmel · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  And one of the mindsets that in here is developing a growth mindset.
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  I think it's really important to always wanna be learning new things, always trying to be
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  improving your self and growing as a person and as a leader.
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  And so I think it's really important to take workshops, read books, identify those areas
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  that maybe you're a little bit more a little weaker in and, you know, try to improve
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  yourself.
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  3, 2, 1, 0, ignition.
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  Alright.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson.
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  Small biz lady.
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  America's number one small business expert, and I am proud to welcome you tonight to small biz
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  chat podcasts, and I am so excited to be here with you tonight.
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  We have an amazing show in store.
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  Now here on the small mishap podcast, we talk about how to start and grow successful small
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  businesses.
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  And my guests have amazing insight to share.
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  And you're gonna get sage advice from multiple perspectives is a peer to peer interview show
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  that gives small business owners a way to get invaluable business advice and our mission is
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  to end small business failure.
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  So now let me introduce my guest.
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  She's a highly respected entrepreneur speaker advocate and author of the new book, Master
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  Your Mindset, how women leaders step up as ex chief executive officer of designed to deliver,
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  she provides program management, support services to federal government agency.
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  In 2021, she founded Bellamo Leadership Institute to help women become better leaders.
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  She served on the board of an Board of Directors for the National Associates of Human
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  Business owners.
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  And she also serves as a delegate to the United States on w 20, the G Twenty's working group on
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  women issues and is a member of the advisory board of George Mason University's women in
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  business edition.
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  For more information, go to mollygimmel.com.
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  Molly, welcome to the small fish chat podcast.
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  Thank you for having me.
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  Alright.
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  So tell me about your business.
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  Tell me how you became so wise about, you know, women's business leadership and what we all
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  need to do to be better?
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  Well, I founded my business.
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  I co founded my business, I should say, designed to delivery in 2001.
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  After spending 10 years working for several of the large government contracting consulting
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  firms.
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  And when I first started the business, when my business partner and I Diana, we were similar
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  to what Serena does, actually.
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  We were consulting firm helping small businesses to do government contracting.
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  But after a few years of that, we decided to pivot and start bidding on contracts for
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  ourselves.
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  And unfortunately, we did have to write proposals but it became very lucrative because
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  we won several large contracts and grew very fast and As part of that, I joined Nava, the
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  National Association of Women Business Owners, because I had never owned a business before,
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  and I wanted to get that education around being a better business owner and was very active
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  here in the local I'm in the DC area.
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  I was very active here in the local and then decided to get involved at the national level,
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  served on several national committees then on the national board.
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  And so that really what sparked my interest in leadership and helping women become more
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  effective leaders.
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  What what was it like for you to run a business that was growing that fast?
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  It was a little crazy.
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  We went from 20 employees to about 80 in about 3 years.
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  And it was it was crazy.
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  It was a lot of scrambling and juggling and, keeping balls in the air and trying to hire us
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  ton of people all at the same time.
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  Unfortunately with government contracts, a lot of the time when you win them, you just hire
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  all the people that the former contractor employed.
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  And that was the case on some of our contracts, but there were others that we had to go out and
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  hire.
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  And so when we got to about 45, 50 employees, then we were like, we really need an HR
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  manager.
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  So you had to bring in an HR manager to help manage the the people and deal with all the
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  benefits and stuff.
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  And, so, you know, it was a little crazy, but but fun and exciting at the same time.
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  And, and you've been on the 85,000 list a couple of times.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  4 times.
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  We made 8000
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  Good stuff.
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  Good stuff.
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  Now tell me, when did you start?
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  Like, why did you decide to start the Lamo leadership Institute?
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  I decided to start that last year when I finished writing my book because I wrote the
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  book for the person that I used to be.
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  I took a class and they said, the person that you're best equipped to help is the person that
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  you used to be.
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  And I thought about When did I need that kind of help?
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  And it was really a couple years before I started my business when I was working for one
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  of the large consulting firms.
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  I was at Arthur Anderson, in their government practice, and I had gotten promoted into a
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  leadership position, into a as a manager, and really wasn't given much training or mentorship
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  And so I decided to start the Volanda leadership Institute to provide women who are
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  at that level in their careers with that leadership training, that community and network
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  of other women peers in other organizations, and to provide that training and mentorship to
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  women in that space?
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  Well, I I think that's an interesting concept about training a woman that you boosted with.
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  That that is a very powerful statement.
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  Now I know in your book, Master, your mindset, you talk a lot about the power of connection.
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  And Mhmm.
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  But what I thought was fascinating is you say it's important to connect to oneself before you
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  connect to others.
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  Can you talk about this?
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  Sure.
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  I think in order to be an effective leader, you have to know yourself first.
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  And the thing that makes people be attracted to a person as a leader is confidence.
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  That's the number one characteristic that draws people to you.
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  But how do you get that confidence?
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  You get that by figuring yourself out by knowing yourself better by, knowing your
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  strengths and your weaknesses and believing in yourself.
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  And so I think it's really important to and I use the word connect as as, you know, to say
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  that, to say knowing yourself, understanding how you feel, understanding how you think, in
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  order to know yourself better to be a a better leader.
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  What are some of the other things that you think are important when you think about
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  leadership?
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  Like, what other skills do people need.
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  Obviously, okay.
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  Being honest about who they are as a communicator and leader, okay.
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  But what else do they need to know?
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  Yeah.
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  Well, in this book, I talk about different mindsets that are important to be an effective
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  leader.
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  So the book, as you mentioned, is about connecting with yourself and then connecting
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  with others.
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  But then within each of those sections, I talk about different specific mindsets that have to
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  do with that.
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  So for example, within connecting with yourself, there's getting over imposter
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  syndrome.
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  There's mastering your mental chatter.
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  There's developing resilience.
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  There's being decisive.
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  And then in connecting with others, there's having empathy.
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  There's, being approachable, being authentic.
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  So those are all different mindset areas that I think are really important.
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  Each of them is important individually, but then also collectively in order to be an
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  effective leader.
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  So are there specific things you think people should be doing to improve their leadership?
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  Absolutely.
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  I think you know, and one of the mindsets that in here is, developing a growth mindset.
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  I think it's really important to always wanna be learning new things, always trying to be
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  improving yourself and growing as a person and as a leader.
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  And so I think it's really important to take workshops, read books, identify those areas
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  that maybe you're a little bit more a little weaker in and, you know, try to improve
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  yourself
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  Now I know that one of the things you talk about is, you know, being authenticating and
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  being transparent about your own struggles and challenges and and and fortitude.
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  But should everybody know these are you?
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  Or, I mean, do you do you need to pick the 2 or 3 people in your organization that needs to
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  know about that time?
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  You had that Ryanair and meltdown.
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  I mean, you know, like, How do you Well, I
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  don't think anybody needs to know about your Moriah Carey meltdown.
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  I think being authentic is not about telling all of your secrets.
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  It's it's about being you.
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  It's about being the real you, not trying to put on a false front and pretend like you have
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  no emotion or always that you're always perfect.
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  It's admitting that, yeah, you make mistakes, but it's not necessarily sharing all of your,
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  you know, the skeletons in your closet.
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  It's a very different thing.
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  Alright.
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  And let's talk about imposter syndrome, because this is something that comes up a lot.
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  I hear young women talk about it, but I hear seasoned women talk about imposter syndrome.
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  And and this is idea that they don't deserve to be in the spot that they're in or that they
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  don't deserve the opportunity, you know, that that people think they're smarter than they
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  really are.
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  Oh, no.
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  We're somebody finds out.
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  Right?
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  Why do you think it's important to nip imposter syndrome in the bud?
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  And what are some of the ways that you suggest people do that?
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  I don't know that imposter syndrome is that you don't deserve it.
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  It's that you feel like you're a fraud.
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  You feel like you're not actually qualified to be in the position that you're in.
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  And I think that happens a lot when people are put into new positions when they're promoted or
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  they get a new job or something along those lines.
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  And it's something new and different and they haven't done it before.
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  So therefore, they don't feel qualified.
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  They feel like a fraud, and they're they're worried that people will figure out that they
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  really don't know what they're doing.
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  And I think it's not necessarily a horrible thing.
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  As I say in the book, Adam Grant, who is a an author of several books and a professor at
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  Wharton cites a study in his new book that medical students who have imposter syndrome
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  actually give better patient care than ones who are overconfident because they're worried that
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  they're not as qualified, so they make sure they're doing everything right.
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  So, you know, I think there's not it's not a problem to have imposter syndrome.
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  It's a problem when you can't get past it.
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  When you let it sabotage you.
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  So I think some ways to get over it are to identify what's making you feel imposter
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  syndrome.
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  Is it the fact that You it's a brand new position and you don't really know what you
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  what you're doing.
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  You don't have experience.
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  Do you think that everybody else is more educated than you?
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  You know, figure out what it is that's causing you to have that imposter syndrome to feel like
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  you're not qualified for whatever position you're in and then fix that situation.
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  You know, if you feel like people have more knowledge than you, go take a course in the
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  topic, go take a workshop, read, read a book about it.
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  Read a book about it.
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  Absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  And then, you know, how can you stay more mindful around your self talk?
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  Because isn't it your self talk that kinda talks you into impostor syndrome?
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  Absolutely.
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  How
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  can you be more mindful about how you talk to yourself?
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  Yeah.
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  You you know, your self talk is kind of the key to everything.
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  It's that voice in your head that's saying either, hey.
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  You're doing a great job.
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  Or, hey.
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  You really don't know what you're doing.
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  You're an imposter.
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  Or, hey.
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  You're really stupid or whatever.
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  A lot of people have very negative self talk.
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  So I think it's important to be aware of what your self talk is to really listen to yourself
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  Listen to that voice in your head and identify what it's saying to you and figure out if it's
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  being helpful, if it's being supportive to you or for sabotaging you.
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  And if it is sabotaging you, being aware of that, so and coming up with counters, you can
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  actually talk back to that voice.
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  And if it starts up on you and tells you how stupid you are, you don't know what you're
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  doing or whatever tell to shut up.
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  Seriously.
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  And some other things too.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  Well, listen, what is the best business advice that you've ever got?
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  The best business advice I've ever gotten is to always keep learning new things.
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  I think that's great advice.
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  I think that's really, really great advice.
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  And listen, I'm really so excited to dig into more of your book, because you really hit on
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  some really important stuff that I think any leader at any level you know, can benefit from?
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  What is your favorite podcast?
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  I will say it's School of Greatness with Lewis House.
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  That that's a good one.
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  I I like Lewis, a lot, and that's a good podcast.
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  Good stuff.
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  What's your favorite app?
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  I'd say Evernote.
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  I keep everything in there.
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  That's my go to depository or repository for notes, passwords, everything.
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  Love it.
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  Favorite old school marketing tip.
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  My favorite old school marketing tip.
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  Is to be focused to not just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks, but to
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  focus on what your key capabilities to your target customer.
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  What is the best business book you've ever read?
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  Best business book you've ever read?
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  Besides my own, I would say it's I have so many because I read business books constantly, but
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  I'll say it's decisive by Chip and Dan Heath.
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  K.
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  I haven't read that one.
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  So interesting.
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  Why do you like that book?
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  It really gave me a new perspective on different ways to make effective decisions.
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  And I think that's really important to being a a good leader is making of making good
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  decisions.
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  I agree.
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  Another book that I read similar to that It's called thinking fast and slow.
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  It's it's a very good book because I used to think the power of making a decision was how
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  fast you made the decision.
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  And it was when I went to graduate school and got my MBA at Drexel, they made, like, one of
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  the first things that they made is we just put thinking fast and so on.
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  I was like, I don't need that.
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  And then I read this book, and I like, oh, dang.
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  Like, you know, it made me completely think about things differently because the one thing
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  I remember about that book was they said you gotta make sure you're you're answering the
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  right question.
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  And sometimes Mhmm.
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  Too fast.
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  You might be thinking it's this.
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  When if you actually took a minute to think about it, it's this over here.
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  So that so that was a very powerful message from that book.
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  So I love that book.
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  I I like you.
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  I'm a voracious reader, but one of my favorite books is, disrupt you by Jay Salmon.
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  And I love that book because he says, if you wanna disrupt the world, start by disrupting
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  yourself.
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  So I love that book.
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  I love Jake.
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  Thank you so much for being my guest.
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  And if you're a woman business owner, please add Molly Gimbles new book master your mindset,
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  how women leaders step up to your reading list.
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  Thank you all for joining me for this episode of the Small Bridge Tap podcast If you're still
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  working on your digital pivot, please take advantage of small bizlating university.
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  We have 4 courses available for you to take your business to the next level, and I wanna
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  invite you to check them out because everyone deserves to make the money that they've worked
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  so hard for.
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  So listen, a mission of small failure.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson's small business lady, your host, and I will leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business either you win or you won't She might have request.
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  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
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  Back to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.